The attached proposal is for a continuation and expansion of theoretical and empirical research on policy determination presently being supported by the Mental Health Services Development Branch of the Mental Health Services Division. The proposed research will attempt to explain the structural dynamics whereby a social problem such as criminal victimization becomes a public policy issue; the processes whereby diffusion among states and localities of programmatic innovations based on models of mental health services for victims of violent crimes occurs; and the institutional bases of a national political and programmatic response to the emergent issue.